Mentoring undergraduate students transcends the classroom and research lab as Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR researchers make a difference, one life at a time, providing opportunities to learn, grow and pursue potential. 

Serving in the mentor role transcends the classroom and research lab for Associate Professor Dan McNally, Bryant University, who teaches environmental science courses at the intermediate and advanced levels.

Mentoring is a lifestyle for McNally, from raising three children to teaching and directing Sunday school, coaching youth sports, teaching undergraduates, and serving as an advisor to the student Science Community Initiative.

McNally compares his role as a parent to that of an instructor, how he treats students and his own children: “There are many similarities in mentoring both. I have been very fortunate to meet people who helped me along the way. It is those people, who have helped make me what I am today. I have never forgotten those people. It is hard not to do the same for others.”

He traces his commitment to his own undergraduate experience. He says he remembers feeling lost upon entering college and retaining that sense of not having a direction into his upperclassmen years.

“I didn’t have a lot of answers about my future,” McNally says. “I didn’t have a mentor in college, and I made a lot of bad decisions.”

He sees a mentor playing many roles: Advisor, counselor, tutor, instructor, advocate, coach, friend, and role model. And, he adds, to some degree, a mentor role can mirror parenting.

Consequently, McNally says, mentoring does take additional time beyond the typical teaching preparation: “You have to be really committed to make a difference. To do well, you have to take the time to get to know your students. Students who want to learn are like sponges, and the more time you spend teaching them, the more they learn.”

A direct impact

Bryant University student Jessica Vickers offers deep praise for McNally as an educator. She describes his classes as innovative and fresh, and says his passion about the subject matter comes through his teaching and motivates her to be a better student.

“I gained a mentor just from taking his classes,” she says. “He has enhanced my education by allowing me to understand what I am passionate for and what I would like to concentrate on in graduate school.”

Allison Hubbard spent her summer 2013 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) experience under McNally’s guidance, researching an historic oil spill on Narragansett Bay’s Prudence Island. The project aimed to determine whether any bacteria at the site could degrade naphthalene, a simple, yet toxic compound found in petroleum-based fuels.

Hubbard reflects, “It was a life-changing experience being able to work in the lab with Dr. McNally. He gave us direction, but let us explore different methods in order to create our own hypotheses, and to have a chance to be real researchers.”

The 10-week experience confirmed Hubbard’s passion for science and the thrill of exploring the unknown: “Yes, I did learn that 99 percent of science is failure, but what I learned from the journey is priceless.  I gained a myriad of skills that can apply to lab work, research, and science writing.”

Hubbard says that working with McNally made her want to investigate environmental toxicology, and has influenced her in determining what she may want to do within the scope of her master’s work.

The SURF experience

Hubbard’s experience models exactly what Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR’s mentoring program intends to provide, according to undergraduate research coordinator Jim Lemire, adjunct professor of biology and marine biology at Roger Williams University.

An ideal mentor is not just about the research, Lemire says, but also about being a scientist. That means managing the data, working with colleagues, attending meetings, dealing with professional organizations, writing papers, and communicating what you find.

“These students already have an interest in science and research,” Lemire explains. “But, do they really what that means in terms of a life experience?  You can go to school and learn about biology, and do research in a lab. But, that doesn’t necessarily prepare you for being a scientist.”

The 10-week immersion of the SURF program offers undergraduates firsthand insight into what the life of a scientist involves, and the mentor plays an invaluable role. As with Hubbard, many students emerge from their research projects with the fires of their science passion stoked and excited to pursue new frontiers.

The experience would not happen without mentors like McNally. Nor, is mentoring a one-way relationship.  Undergraduates bring a new and energetic perspective, with questions that may not have been considered before.

And, for professors at primarily undergraduate institutions, or PUIs, where there are no graduate students to assist with research, the undergraduates fill a vital role in moving science forward. The pursuit of science needs students who are properly trained, and motivated and excited by doing the work.

(Read about other RI NSF EPSCoR mentors and their work to support undergraduate students.)

A mentor’s reward

McNally says that throughout the years, he has had students not assigned to him seek him out for help because he was available.

“I enjoy working with students who are driven to learn, especially those who take responsibility and hold themselves accountable. This shows they have reached a level of maturity and readiness to graduate and be a productive member of society. For the most part, that is what keeps us going.”

The unofficial mentoring extends to science majors who are required to join a faculty-led research team and conduct meaningful research, students presenting papers or posters at professional conferences, and science majors inducted into the Sigma Xi Honor Society every year in a joint chapter with Brown University.

As do his peers, McNally says he finds the transformation of undergraduates amazing. And, playing a role in their education and discovery certainly carries a sense of reward for mentors.

In that respect, McNally says, being a mentor is a natural extension of being educator: “I believe it involves a lot of listening and encouragement, while asking students the right questions to prompt their thought process to solve problems.”

Story by Amy Dunkle

(From our Winter 2014 issue of The Current)